Searcy Law Blog

Did the "Founding Fathers" Anticipate Civil Lawsuits?

To the level we see them today; perhaps not. What the Founding Fathers did recognize is to have a civilized society, there must exist some avenue for the redress by citizens of wrongs; whether perceived or real. Judicial economy dictates that some control must be given over to the Courts to regulate the elimination of obviously meritless cases, but that regulation must be carefully applied.

I often have discussion with friends about the criminal justice system and their complaint that “too many crooks and thugs seem to go free”. I explain to them a philosophy that many of them have trouble buying into. That philosophy is: the courts were not designed to punish the guilty, the courts and the justice system must, at all costs, protect the innocent. It is sometimes a tough philosophy. To watch a guilty person go free because of a legal technicality is simply not something that anyone accepts easily. Those legal safeguards, though, are not there to assure the punishment of the guilty person who may be able to take advantage of them, rather they are in place to protect the innocent person from being wrongfully punished.

Similarly, in the civil arena, lawsuits are not primarily intended to punish the defendant for wrongful or negligent conduct; with the exception, of course, of punitive damages. The civil justice system is in place to protect the rights of the injured victim; to allow an injured victim the right to be heard and to explain why the defendant’s conduct was at fault for his injuries. So, permitting lawsuits must be favored over extinguishing the rights of truly injured people.

Will there be abuse of the civil justice system at times by allowing a more liberal view toward favoring the rights of the victim? Absolutely; it is simply unavoidable. Much like allowing the guilty to go free in favor of a system that protects the innocent; the civil system must allow some abuse in order to carefully preserve the rights of the truly injured.

Personal injury attorneys ready to fight for you.

* This amount represents gross verdicts and settlements obtained on behalf of clients over the last 40 years, without adjustment for fees, costs, or medical liens. In some cases, verdicts were amended or appealed, or were not fully recoverable due to the insolvency of defendants. The accounts of recent trials, verdicts and settlements contained in this website are intended to illustrate the experience of the firm in a variety of litigation areas. Each case is unique, and the results in one case do not necessarily indicate the quality or value of any other case. Omitting clients' names and/or defendants' names are the result of requests for anonymity.

We partner with a third party ad network to either display advertising on our Web site or to manage our advertising on other sites. Our ad network partner uses cookies and Web beacons to collect non-personally identifiable information about your activities on this and other Web sites to provide you targeted advertising based upon your interests. If you wish to not have this information used for the purpose of serving you targeted ads, you may opt-out by clicking here (Link to TRUSTe global opt-out: http://preferences.truste.com/). Please note this does not opt you out of being served advertising. You will continue to receive generic ads.